Three years back, Serbian international, Nemanja Matic was transferred to Portuguese giants Benfica along with 24 million euros in a swap deal for David Luiz. Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho had already identified central midfield as an area that needed some strengthening following the long-term injury to Marco van Ginkel.
The Portuguese tactician was desperate to have an imposing presence in the middle for his team and Nemanja Matic, at 6ft 4inch fits the profile perfectly.
The Serb is likely to pair up with Ramires in the centre of the midfield which will give the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Willian freedom to express themselves more on the field.
Mourinho has always been a big fan of players with a tendency to shut shop and that is what he gets in Matic. Now, Chelsea will have the luxury to pair up Matic with either David Luiz or John Obi Mikel to constrict the opposition attack.
The financial side of things
Regardless of all the benefits this signing will have for the club, this acquisition has left many people wondering whether spending so much on a former player is justified. The midfielder was valued way under five million pounds when he joined Benfica and now he has been resigned for almost five times more the money. Three years ago, before he left, Matic was not seen as a first team player by the then Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti and the only way the club could get its hands on Luiz was by sending the Serb the other direction.
Quite naturally, not being part of the deal meant that the Special One had no qualms brining the player back.
Though many people would see spending so much money on a former player as being inexplicable, the financial stress can be partly covered with the prospective sale of Kevin De Bruyne who is expected to join VfL Wolfsburg for 16 million pounds.
Is Matic the right man for the job?
Being voted the Portuguese player of the year ahead of the likes of Jackson Martinez and Elliaquim Mangala means that Matic is definitely not the kind of player who will be dazed by the competition for places at Chelsea. He might not be a goal scoring midfielder but has a presence in the field that will help his other teammates express themselves better.
With the way he has played for Benfica since joining them in 2011, it is clear that Matic has improved a lot as a player. Chelsea’s first priority in the transfer window must have been acquiring a striker. However, with so many creative midfielders, the squad has been unbalanced so swapping De Bruyne for Matic is one way of addressing this problem.
Apart from seeing their strikers struggle to score goals freely, Chelsea have also had problems defending set pieces at times and Matic’s presence will allay this issue a wee bit.
If he is given time to adapt and is on form, Matic will definitely help Mourinho’s team to close out games more effectively than they have done in the past.
